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Thank God for sweatshirts. She was pretty sure everything that could tighten on her entire body had gone on red alert.
“Pop,” she called into the office. “Come on into the appraisal room. Vance brought us El Rey’s.”
She stood in the doorway to the small conference room they used for the private appraisals and set the bag down. She pulled plates from a filing cabinet and set out the food.
Conscious of Vance’s presence and the fact that she was actually going to introduce her dad to him after only knowing him one day, she was surprised her hands were so steady.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had her father meet any of her—well, boyfriend wasn’t exactly right. But she was far more at ease with Vance than any man she’d datedin the last five years. What did that say about her? Or more importantly, Vance?
Her father filled the doorway. He was lanky where Vance was filled out, but they were about the same height.
Vance came forward with his hand out. “Mr. Warren.”
“Bennett—or Ben.” He pumped Vance’s hand vigorously. “I’m so happy to meet you.” Her dad let his hand go and wiped the palm nervously on his thigh. “I heard you saved her from a rather terrible blind date.”
“She saved herself. Just let me come along for the ride.”
Presley smiled down at the sandwiches she was unwrapping. If this man didn’t stop being so sweet, she was going to do something stupid. Like marry him.
She placed a sandwich on a plate for her father then licked her fingertips. El Rey’s was one of her favorite food trucks in Kensington Square, but she rarely got a chance to get out of the office to stand in line and get it.
She sat down and took a big bite of the spicy beef spilling out of Cuban bread.
“Well, she’s been saving this company for the last year, so that doesn’t surprise me in the least.”
“Goldie—er, Presley told me that you were having some trouble with your software.”
“No matter what we do, it seems to pull the wrong data for orders. Even when we use the right item numbers. It’s very frustrating. I’m ready to go back to full paper and fax.”
Mouth full, she couldn’t cut her father off.
Vance wiped his mouth and pushed his sandwich back. “Mind if I take a look at it?”
She reached across the table to Vance’s hand and chewed as fast as she could. The damn bread was stuck in her throat.
Vance covered her hand. “I’m a programmer. I might be able to find the error.”
“Oh.” Her father sat up straighter. “I don’t know…it has proprietary data in there.”
Vance nodded. “I can sign a non-disclosure if it makes you feel better.”
Her father folded his hands in front of his plate. “What exactly could you do?”
Oh, now her father was open to ideas? Presley swallowed. “Pop, Vance is a really busy man. I don’t think our little store is worth his time.”
Vance laced their fingers together. “This is exactly what I do. Optimize small businesses.”
“No. We can’t ask you to do that. Besides, we definitely can’t afford you.”
“I don’t do it for the money, Goldie. You know that. I have more money than I’ll ever spend in my lifetime or my children or even grandchildren someday.”
Just how much was this guy worth? Most millionaires were scrimping for money these days. She’d watched empires rise and fall just within her lifetime.
And what kind of man freely gave his time? After only knowing her for a day especially. No orgasm was that good. Okay, so it was more like a half dozen, but that was beside the point.
Her dad held up a hand. “Let’s hear him out then.”
She opened her mouth to dissuade him, but her father just gave her the look. She sighed and picked up her messy Cuban burger.
